Determined
by Puddledrop
Summary: Edward & Jacob are both inlove with their best friend, Bella. But when a secret was reaveled, everything changed from Jacob running away to Edward being suicidal. What happened? ExB, AH.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This story popped in my head when I was zoning out in English lesson, I wasn't really paying attention. No wonder I suck at grammars.**

**Anyway, this story will be written in Bella's point of view, but the first chapter is written in a third-person point of view. This is an 'All Human' and 'Out of Character' story.**

**Oh, I almost forgot! I wanted to thank my new Beta, Zoe, for correcting all my mistakes especially the tenses. You rock Zoe! **

_Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters. They are all owned by Mrs. Stephenie Meyer!_

- - - -

**Determined**

Chapter one

_August 5, 1996_

"She wants to play with me, not you!" A little bronze-haired child yelled, scowling at the russet-skinned boy in front of him.

"No! She wants to play with me!" The russet-skinned boy retorted.

The little girl watched them amusedly and shouted out, "I'd rather play with my Barbie than with the two of you!", but she didn't mean any of it.

The bronze-haired child took it seriously, got up angrily and ran back inside the house to tell on his brother. Then the girl walked up to the russet-skinned boy and said, "Do you want to play Barbie with me?"

The boy grinned widely and nodded eagerly.

"Thank you, Jacob! Too bad Edward is not here to play with us." Jacob frowned when she mentioned his brother, but smiled when she kissed him on the cheek.

Edward was watching in jealousy at the two of them from his bedroom window. He started pulling out his hair when he saw the little girl kiss his brother. He started throwing a tantrum and bawling his eyes out until his mom came in and asked him what was wrong.

He explained everything, from the small argument with his brother to the part where Bella kissed Jacob's cheek.

"Mommy," Edward asked, "can I beat up Jacob?"

His mom looked at him with wide eyes that turned from understanding to angry. Then she yelled out, "EMMETT!"

Edward looked at his mom in confusion, wondering what had made her so angry. Emmett, a boy who had a round face with dimples and dark brown hair, came in with a grin on plastered on his face.

"What did I tell you about fighting?" His mom asked sternly.

"I told you not to tell her!" Emmett whined at his brother, avoiding his mother's gaze.

Still, Edward looked at them in confusion but decided to go down and play with Bella and Jacob so that he wouldn't have to hear his mom giving his other brother, Emmett, a lecture.

Once he reached the backyard, he asked Bella if he could play with them. She responded with a 'yes'. He didn't bother asking Jacob because he was still angry with him.

"Okay, I don't want to play Barbie anymore since Edward is here. Let's play princess!" Both boys groaned, but played with her nonetheless.

"I'm going to be Princess Layla, Edward will be the scary dragon and Jacob will be my Prince who will come and save me!" She said excitedly.

"But why do I have to be the dragon?" Edward sadly asked.

She shrugged and said, "Because I like Jacob better. He played Barbie with me!"

Upon hearing this, Edward got up once again and tackled Jacob to the ground. Edward started wrestling Jacob and Jacob tried to do the same.

Bella looked at them annoyed and said out loud, "The Prince was supposed to hit the Dragon first, not the other way round! I'm going to tell Esme."

They both ignored her and Bella huffed and ran to the boys' house and went in. He saw their father in the kitchen when she walked by and bit her lip, debating who to tell. She gave up and went to the kitchen, since it was nearer.

"What is it, Bella?" Carlisle asked when he saw the facial expression on Bella's face.

"Jacob and Edward are fighting." She said quietly.

He raised an eyebrow and asked, "Really?"

She nodded. Carlisle sighed, picked Bella up and put her on his shoulder, walking out of the house to check on his sons.

"Jacob! Edward! Stop!" Carlisle said when he saw the boys on the ground, now fighting for Bella's Barbie doll.

"Hey! Don't hurt her!" Bella said grumpily, when she saw one of the arms fall off.

Once they heard Bella's voice, they stopped fighting and ran to their father and Bella leaving the doll on the ground.

"Give me back my doll!" Bella cried, tears starting to well up in her eyes once Carlisle had put her down.

The two boys started panicking and rushed back to get the doll and bring it back to her. They both picked up the doll at the same time, and started pulling it from each others' hands.

Bella started crying and the boys stopped. They ran to her and started apologizing. She sobbed out, "I just want my doll back. Not the both of you fighting for it."

Jacob stood, took the doll and gave it to Bella. She muttered out a 'thanks' while Edward was rubbing her back.

Esme came out of the house with Emmett in tow, watching the kids intensely. Esme came up to Carlisle and put her arms around her husband's waist. Emmett whispered out a 'yuck' and went back inside the house to play with his action figures.

Carlisle sighed and said to his wife, "We've got to be prepared for when they're teenagers. Who knows what drama they will cause?"

Esme just rolled her eyes at her husband and went back to watching her kids and Bella play.


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter is very boring but reviews are appreciated! It will get more exciting in the next chapter.**

**{I also want to thank my Beta, Zoe, for pointing out my mistakes in tenses & stuff. She really has a lot of patience with me. THANK YOU ZOE!}**

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned in this chapter nor do I own Twilight. Mrs. Stephenie Meyer owns it all! _

- - - -

**Determined**

Chapter two

September 3, 2009 (13 years later)

"Bella," Jacob yelled, running towards me. "I missed you."

He buried his face into my neck and I couldn't help but giggle. His hair was tickling me. Then I caught sight of his brother, Edward, behind and waved at him to come over.

Edward was like my big brother; he protected me from the perverted boys at our school and teased me a lot. We'd never fought before, probably because I always hung out with Jacob rather than him. I still felt a bit guilty, but when I asked him about it, he just shrugged it off and said it was 'fine'.

"Edward!" A blonde-haired girl called out. Edward turned to look in her direction and saw that she was giggling with her friends. Edward winked at them and they started blushing.

When Jacob pulled away, I saw the same glint in his eyes since we were four. Jacob was also like my big brother but I was much closer to him than Edward. I smiled at him and hugged him one more time. By the time I let go, Edward was by my side, arms open wide with a huge grin on his face. He looked really silly so I started laughing, but then I hugged him.

"I missed you," he said.

"Like I don't," I said, jokingly. "I was only gone for two weeks."

During summer vacation, my mom, Renee, called and told me she had booked me a flight to Phoenix to spend more time with her. I got confused with this but decided to go; when I arrived in Phoenix, she told me that Phil was a coach in an elementary school and she was always alone at the house. She felt really lonely and decided to bring her daughter (me!) to Phoenix for some bonding time.

"It felt like a decade!" both Edward and Jacob said, and then they started chuckling at the same time.

It was really obvious that they were brothers but they looked really different. The only thing that was the same was their height. Edward looked a lot more like his Mom than his Dad. He had pale white skin, bronze-like hair, green eyes, high cheekbones, a straight nose and a smile that could make your heart melt.

Jacob on the other hand, was very different from all the Cullen brothers; usually, they have green eyes too but Jacob had black. He had black hair and russet skin. I always wanted to ask Esme why Edward's skin color was different from Jacob's but she kept on avoiding me or changing the topic.

"Bella, are you okay? You've been staring at the ground for a while now," Jacob asked, waving his hand in front of my face, worry evident in his voice.

I blinked in surprise and replied, "I'm okay."

"Okay, that's good! Alice is going to have a party later and she's inviting you," he said, putting an arm over my shoulder casually.

I had totally forgotten about Edward until he cleared his throat. I yelped in surprise and stared wide eyed at him because he was narrowing his eyes at his twin brother. I raised an eyebrow at him when he caught my eye, but he just sighed and walked away. See? The way he reacted whenever I was with Jacob made me feel guilty.

I turned to look back at Jacob and he was looking at me curiously. I just shook my head in response.

"Come on, let's get to first period."

I nodded and followed Jacob to our first period, which was English. Once we got inside the school, people started staring at me and Jacob. That was probably because of his arm around my shoulder. I inwardly rolled my eyes; it was like they hadn't seen someone put an arm over their shoulder before.

When we arrived at the classroom, I saw Lauren Mallory, our typical cheerleader, flirting with Edward. He had an annoyed look on his face that clearly showed, 'piss off Lauren!' but sadly, she still didn't get the hint.

I patted him on the back to show my sympathy for him and he rolled his eyes at me. Jeez, I was showing my sympathy for him this was what I got?

When our English teacher arrived, everybody sat down at their seats. Edward was sitting next to me while Jacob sat two desks behind me. Mr. Redd started talking about a play I couldn't care less about and I started drawing doodles on my notebook for the time being.

"Psst!"

I looked to my left and saw Edward pointing his thumb to the back. I raised an eyebrow and followed the direction of where his thumb is pointing and saw that Jacob was sleeping, with his right arm supporting his head. Drool was coming out of his mouth and this, my friend, was perfect for blackmail material.

I tore a piece of paper out of my notebook and wrote, '_Take a picture of him!!!'._ He nodded once he read the paper I gave him and took out his phone. He played with the settings and then held his phone up high (Mr. Redd was writing words on the board) then _click_.

Edward gave me two thumbs up with a grin when he put his phone back in his pocket. Mission accomplished.

- - -

_EPoV – After school, at home._

Once I got out of my Volvo, I ran in to the house (the door was unlocked) and in to the kitchen. Mom was cleaning the dishes when I walked up behind her and tapped her shoulder.

I think I startled her because she jumped in fright and put a hand in her heart when she turned around, "God, Edward, you could have cleared your thr- Edward?"

I sobbed quietly and just hugged her. She didn't need to ask any more questions because she knew the reason behind this. This happened during summer vacation, when I found out I was in love with Bella. I couldn't seem to tell her this because she was always with Jake, and I was never comfortable around him. Why? It was because I was tempted to tell him a secret that could change him, and his relationship with Bella.


	3. Chapter 3

**Me and my Beta are writing a new story (we still haven't thought of the story name) that's going to be publish in Fan fiction next week (I think).**

**I've also created my own website where you can read some sneak peeks of the next chapter! (Site is on my profile) Just scroll down till the end of the page. If you want to chat with me, there's a chatbox on the right hand side; you could ask me some questions or do collaboration with me.**

**And I also want to thank my amazing Beta, Zoe! She rocks!**

**Beta's note: Everybody review, review, REVIEW this story! Soooo awesome, and what's coming next is even more awesomer. Yeah, I know that's not a word.**

**Anyways, just saying hi, and if any of you find the time, check out some of my stuff, please! (I know, I know, it's wrong to advertise on Lecx's story since I'm her beta and all) And our new story will hopefully be up soon, but I'm not guaranteeing anything about a week. Peace. =)**

_Disclaimer – I do not own any of the characters mentioned below, it all belongs to Stephenie Meyer. I just own the plot =D_

**- - - -**

**Determined**

Chapter three

September 4, 2009 – **EPOV**

"Edward," Jacob said, panting with his tongue sticking out. I think he ran all the way home from school. "I've got something to tell you!"

I raised an eyebrow in response. "Is it important? I'm busy right now."

I was doing my English essay that Mr. Redd made us do. Originally, we were told to write a thousand-word review of some movie called 'New Moon', but Mr. Redd doubled the amount of what words just because _someone _had to sleep in class and be obvious about it. Curse you Jacob.

"Well ... it is for me but I don't know if it is for you." He shrugged, then walked inside and plopped down on my bed. I heard him sigh happily.

I sighed and asked, "What is it that you want to tell me?"

He got off the bed and started pacing my room nervously. It took him three minutes to tell me what he was going to say. "I'm in love with Bella."

I stared at him wide-eyed, pointed a finger at him while shaking my head left to right, and faked out laugh. "Hah, for a second there I thought you said you were in love with Bella."

He squeezed his eyes shut and squeaked out, "I did." I would have laugh at the way he said that, but this was no laughing matter.

"But why?" I asked in jealousy and curiousity. Out of all the people who could like Bella, it had to be my brother. Well, step-brother anyway.

"She's funny, smart, sarcastic, kind; I could go on and on Edward! I think she's the one." He said quietly, not meeting my gaze. I couldn't believe this. This isn't true, this is all a lie. _Yeah, keep telling yourself that_, a voice said in the back of my head. I took slow and deep breaths to prevent myself from tackling Jacob to the ground and demand him to like someone else because she's not right for him.

He's her _cousin _for God's sake!

"So what do you think?" _Just tell him, Edward. Tell him he's Bella's cousin. _The voice said, taunting me. No. I won't tell him.

I gulped and said, "I honestly don't know. Now if you could excuse me, I have to do my homework." I pushed him out of my room forcefully, and he stumbled on the way out with a look of confusion and hurt in his face.

"I need your help, _Kuya,_" he whispered, but he's voice broke when he said 'Kuya'. Kuya was what he called me when we were ten years old; we were searching for different languages on how to say big brother and we found out that Kuya was the best one out of all the ones we've found. He only calls me that when he's hurt and sad. I had always helped him through times like this, when he's feeling broken. From the time when he and Bella got to an argument when they were thirteen, to the time where Jacob's heart got broken by Leah Clearwater, a girl from the reservation in La Push.

"Not today, Jacob," I muttered, staring blankly at the ground and hoping that he wouldn't hear what I'd just said. When I looked up, though, his eyebrows were pushed together, like he was trying to solve an extremely difficult puzzle. I closed the door slowly and walked back to my desk and tried to do my work, but ended up writing nothing at all. I groaned.

I got up, threw my pencil on to the ground, forgetting my homework and stormed out of the room. I went to Mom and Dad's room, hoping that Mom was the only person there. I knocked on the door and heard a soft voice called out, 'come in'.

I slowly opened the door, and took a hesitant step in. Mom was fixing the bed, her back facing towards me. I watched her until she was done tidying the room. "What is that you want to tell me, Edward?" she asked when she turned to look at me.

"I can't take this anymore Mom. He told me he loves her, but how could I tell him the truth without hurting him? He called me Kuya when I kicked him out of my room."

She sighed and hugged me. "For the first time in my life Edward, I don't know what to do either." And with that, I shut my eyes, hugged her tightly and walked out of the room.

- - -

_The next day – 5 September, 2009._

**BPOV**

"Hi Bella," Jacob greeted me; he was picking me up this morning because he wanted to tell me something personal.

"Good morning Jacob," I said, and climbed in to his car.

"Hey, do you mind if we skip the first period? I want us to talk in private. Let's go to the old secret tree house that we built."

I nodded in response. It was secret because no one knew of it except Esme and Carlisle; even Edward didn't know about it. Jacob and I were the best of friends, so we decided to make our own secret tree house like the 'Kids Next Door'. We usually went there to stick up papers where we wrote all our dreams (and put a tick on the paper if we accomplished it) and drawings. We also went there to confess and apologize if we ever lied to each other, but I'm confused to why Jacob wanted us to go there. He hadn't lied to me in three years, and all the papers were already ticked and granted.

"Why are we going there?" I asked Jacob. He just turned around and grinned at me, and shook his head.

"Ugh!" I crossed my arms and pouted. I saw him roll his eyes at me through the mirror; I stuck my tongue out and he just laughed at me.

"I'll give you a hint," he said slowly. "I have to confess something. I didn't lie though."

"Alright," I said. At least I had a clue as to why we are going there instead of nothing, right?

Once we reached their house, we walked quietly to the backyard, jumped over the fence and raced towards the forest. We'd already memorized how to get there so there wouldn't be any problem of getting lost.

I was huffing hard when I stopped and stood in front of the rope. "Ladies first," Jacob said.

I took a deep breath and climbed up slowly, making sure that I didn't slip. Minutes later, I was already in the tree house waiting for Jacob to make his way over here.

"We have got to expand this tree house. It's too small for me." I snorted when he said that.

"Well, it's because you're too big!" I exclaimed. He wiggled his eyebrows at me when he heard my comment. I rolled my eyes at him and flipped him off when he wasn't looking.

"Okay, let's get down to business. What were you going to tell me?" I asked impatiently when he sat down.

"I don't think I can do this," I heard him mutter to himself. I sighed, waiting.

"Spit it out already, will ya?" I said a minute later, tapping my fingers on the wooden floor. He took a deep breath, looked at me in the eye and said, "I'm in love you Bella."

Okay … I wasn't expecting _that_.

- - - -

**EPOV**

I heard a deep breath coming from their not-so-secret tree house. Seriously! Are they kidding me? The tree house was near our backyard and you could see it from my bedroom window! What were they think-

"I'm in love you Bella." WHAT. WAS. THAT?! I looked up, even though I couldn't see what Bella's reaction was. I tried to climb up, but slipped. The rope got tangled with my leg and I yelped in pain. My blood was probably rushing to my head. Crap.

I'd just heard Jacob confess his love to Bella and now I'm stuck in this rope, desperately trying to get free. Could this day get any worse?

"What's that noise?"

Yes, it could.


	4. Chapter 4

**Ah. I've been missing for one month, wasn't I? I was feeling really lazy. {Blushes}**

**B/N: Uh, Lecx… I think it was two and a half months… That's even longer than me!**

_Disclaimer – I do not own any of the characters mentioned below, it all belongs to Stephenie Meyer. I just own the plot._

- - - -

**BPOV**

"What's that noise?" I asked. Jacob shrugged and didn't move an inch. He just kept staring at me; probably searching for a reply to what he said minutes ago.

"So ..?" he asked, moving closer to me. My heart started beating faster and I was sweating like mad. Should I kiss him? Shit, he was starting to reach my lips. I quickly shut my eyes and thought of happy thoughts.

.. Wait. Why the hell is Jacob in my happy thoughts? Oh yeah, because he's the one who makes me smile everyday!

"Can somebody help me?" shouted a familiar voice and she or he sounded frustrated. I heard Jacob groan and that was my cue to open my eyes. Jacob was now looking below to see what had happened; his eyes started to grow wider and I was guessing what he saw was bad.

"Edward?!"

What?

"Stop staring and help me out!" yelled Edward.

"We can't! You have to untie the rope yourself! If I go down there, I might hit you," Jacob said in response.

I heard Edward cuss and groan about how this was the worst day ever. I took a quick peek and saw him trying to untie the rope off his leg with no luck.

"Call Esme," I told Jacob. He nodded and reached for the phone in his pocket. He dialed and put the phone on loudspeaker.

"Hello?" Esme's voice rang out.

"Mom, Edward needs help. He's tied to our tree house rope and he can't untie himself."

I heard Esme sigh on the phone and said that she'd be here as soon as possible. Then she ended the call.

"So what do we do now?" I asked worriedly. I took another peek at Edward and saw his face get redder.

"We could take a picture of him," Jacob suggested. "After all, he _was_ eavesdropping." Hmm, that was true; but he did save me from kissing Jacob. So that wasn't such a good idea.

"Um …" Then we heard something fall and a loud 'OW'. I decided to go down and see what just happened. I noticed that Edward wasn't tied to the rope anymore so I slid down and – thankfully – landed on my feet.

"Oh God mom, that hurts," Edward whined, rubbing his head. Esme just shrugged. I could see that she was trying hard not to laugh.

"Good for you," I heard Jacob mutter. I raised an eyebrow at him and he just shook his head.

"Look Bella, could you just give me a chance?" Jacob asked. From the corner of my eye, I saw Edward and Esme holding their breath. Were they waiting for me to answer him?

"I … Give me some time, Jacob."


	5. Chapter 5

**I tried my best with writing this chapter. That's all you need to know. **

_Disclaimer – I do not own any of the following characters mentioned below; it all belongs to Mrs. Meyer. I just own the crappy plot. _

- - -

September 5, 2009 – **BPOV**

I took a deep, yet shaky breath and got out of my truck. I walked quickly inside the school, earning me glances from students who walked by. So they've noticed that Jacob wasn't with me.

"Bella, I can't believe you forget about the party, along with Jacob and Edward!" Alice Brandon said, a pout on her face. Oh crap. I'd totally forgotten about the party. Alice Brandon was one of my girl best friends since Elementary. I met her through Edward. She was exactly five feet tall, had spiky black hair and sparkling black eyes.

"Shit. Sorry, Alice, I forgot."

She smiled at me. "Don't worry, I'm having another one this weekend!"

I sighed. "And you want to dress me up for the party, don't you?" She nodded excitedly. "Fine, but please spare me the revealing clothes you always get me for your parties."

She rolled her eyes at me but nodded nonetheless. "Where's Jacob?"

"I don't know," I responded. She raised an eyebrow at me.

"Uh-huh. Sure you don't." What the hell? She thinks I'm lying? But I can't blame her. Jacob was always at my side, literally.

"I'm dead serious, Alice. Everything changed yesterday." She showed me her infamous puppy dog eyes. "No, I'm not going to share what happened. Period."

The bell suddenly rang. "You're lucky that the bell is on your side today. But not tomorrow, I tell you!" Then she skipped to class, like nothing had happened at all.

I walked to my first period class and sat beside Edward. He smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile back.

"Hey Bella," Jacob greeted me as he walked to his seat behind us. I nodded stiffly in return. I still felt a bit awkward from when he told me he was in love with me. It just seemed so wrong.

"So are you going to say yes to Jacob?" Edward asked quietly.

I bit my lip and looked behind me. Jacob was laughing with a girl named 'Nessie' behind us. I stared at him for some time. And now, I knew what my answer was going to be.

- - -

_During Lunch_

"Hi guys." I sat down in between Jacob and Edward, who was talking to Alice and Emmett.

"Hey," they said at the same time causing Emmett to laugh like an idiot.

Emmett was Edward's and Jacob's brother. He looked more like Edward than Jacob. He had the same color hair as Edward, but his hair was curly. He had green eyes like Edward. And he was much more muscular and athletic than Edward.

"Um, Jacob," Jacob stared at me, smiling like he'd just won a million dollars, "could I talk to you outside?" I heard a sharp intake of breath and I saw Edward glaring at the apple on his tray. Alice and Emmett were looking at him with pity in their eyes. That was unusual…

Jacob tugged my hand and led me out of the cafeteria to the school hall. He leaned on the wall and asked me what I wanted to tell him.

"I've decided to give you a chance-," I started, but was cut off when he hugged me and spun me around; I was laughing real hard because his strong arms were tickling me. "Okay, okay. Put me down now."

He kissed my cheek before he put me down. "Okay, as I was saying, I've decided to give you a chance but could we take things slow first?"

He nodded and kissed my cheek one more time and we walked hand-in-hand inside the cafeteria. Everybody gasped when they saw me and Jacob together. I hid my face on his shoulder and he squeezed my hand in return.

"Wow guys," Alice yelled. "I'm so happy for you."

I blushed and muttered out a 'thanks'. I was guessing Emmett was stunned because he didn't say a single word. Then Edward stood up and left the cafeteria without saying anything. Emmett followed after him.

"What a mess," Alice said, grabbing her head like she was having a major headache.

I sat down with Jacob at my side and he started feeding me spaghetti. "Am I going too fast?" he asked. I shook my head and he happily started feeding me again. Wow, was this what it felt like to have a boyfriend?

- - -

**EPOV **– _When he left the cafeteria._

I couldn't fucking believe this. They're together. I started banging my head on the wall and kicking some random lockers.

"Edward," I heard Emmett say; his hand on my shoulder. "Look. If you want to be with Bella, you've got to fight for her love and not just stand there muttering about how much of an idiot you are. I think we should tell Jacob the truth."

I snorted sarcastically. "And break his damn heart? No, I don't think so."

"He deserves the truth, Edward. It's been seventeen years! Don't you think it's time to tell him?" Emmett asked angrily.

"I know he fucking deserves the truth Emmett! But I know he won't believe us. He just started going out with Bella and the truth wouldn't stop them both from 'falling in love'."

Emmett just stared at me sadly. "Edward, I'm going to tell him once we get home." Then he started walking back inside.

"NO," I said when he was about to open the doors. "I'll tell him."


End file.
